What waste sector customers want

David Banks, Sales Manager – Waste and Recycling Sector at JCB, listens to what customers want from materials handling equipment.

Waste and recycling management demands constant change as the sector seeks to divert as much waste from landfill and into recycling and renewable energy as possible. There are new outlets to consider, new products, new processes and systems. As Mick Clifton, Operations Manager at Stanton Recycling, says: “Waste is an industry that will never go away and we are getting busier year-on-year with more business from our existing contracts. We have to look after them and provide the service they want.”

As volumes passing through sites in the sector continue to increase, having the right equipment is fundamental for a progressive waste and recycling site to meet these challenges in 2018 and beyond. It’s incumbent on suppliers to listen to, and understand, what the sector wants from materials handling equipment, to ensure that we can deliver the most effective solutions.

Many customers want specialist machines, which have been designed to cope with the conditions in the waste sector. “Recycling is very much a harsh environment for machinery,” says Craig Curtis, Managing Director of CS Recycling. General waste-spec features will include maintenance-free solid tyres, safety reversing cameras, immobilisers and a ground clearance that allows the machines to drive over waste easily.

Paul Lock, Operations Director at Hadley Recycling and Waste Management, says: “In this industry it’s important to have equipment which is safe, strong and suited to the environment,” Hadley’s Wastemaster-spec JCB Hydradig has a reversing fan on its radiator, despite its compact size, which gives a big productivity and reliability advantage in a waste transfer environment, according to Lock. “Our site can get very dusty and with our previous machine we had to ‘blow out’ the radiator several times a day, which made it very hot.”

Compactness

With more work within covered areas, many operators want machines that combine performance with compact dimensions for tasks in tight spaces. Clifton found the JCB 560-80 Loadall to be a good fit on the Stanton site. He says: “We don’t have a lot of room inside our buildings for large waste moving machines. We’ve tried loading shovels but they don’t offer the same manoeuvrability as the Loadalls, which also have a comparable capacity.” Ken Chrystal, Site Manager at Hamilton Waste says that its 560-80 is “manoeuvrable round the yard and into the bays with its four wheel steering and narrow tyres, which allows it to access places that bigger machines can’t reach as easily.”

Safety

Safety is paramount at all times and the many design features dedicated to reducing the risk of accidents on site are at the forefront of customer specifications. It is important to have clear visibility from the cab, which should also provide a very comfortable environment in which drivers can work long shifts. Clifton points out: “That’s particularly important because they don’t get fatigued while working six to seven hours a day.”

A big advance was made in minimising risk on sites during 2017 with the introduction of an exciting new advance in the form of the JCB Proximity Braking System (PBS) for wheeled loaders. Developed in collaboration with FCC Environment (UK), PBS reduces the risk of on-site collisions between man and machine and we look forward to seeing it contributing to safe work environments on more sites in 2018.

Productivity

While site safety is the priority, the waste sector also needs machines that will deliver productivity to keep the increasing throughput flowing. For example, a pair of six tonne capacity 560-80 Loadalls supports the processing and recycling of approximately 500 tonnes of wood per week at busy wood recycling operation Hamilton Waste & Recycling. Company Director David Hamilton says: “They can load a 140-150 cubic metre walking floor trailer in 10-15 minutes – depending upon the operator.”

Versatility

Throughout 2017 we have seen busy sites increase their productivity by opting for versatile materials handling machines. On-site multitasking is helped by the ability to quickly switch between a range of universal attachments such as buckets, pallet forks or tools such as a yard brush. Mick Clifton says: “One minute it can be a forklift, the next it can be a loader, says adding that all of Stanton’s JCBs multitask. They can all do each others’ jobs with their universal attachments. This means that if one of our machines needs servicing, we can swap over to another in a matter of minutes so production never stops.” Multitasking machines can also reduce the need for larger fleets on site.

Reliability

Reliability is vital contributor to improved productivity. Mick Clifton says: “Having machinery running all of the time is the best thing we can wish for. There’s no machine that won’t break down eventually, so it’s all about how quickly it can be fixed.” In the event of a breakdown, few sites can wait 2-3 weeks for parts, they will want it fixed within 24-48 hours – good service support will continue to be vital.

McKinstry Skip Hire keeps its fleet operating at optimum productivity by not racking up the hours on its hard working machines. Manager Mark McKinstry explains: “We have a programme to replenish our JCB machines because we don’t want to put a high number of hours on them – some of our machines can have up to 7,000 hours on them. We now want to replace them after 2500 hours, which is the secret to running efficient machines.”

A golden uptime rule is to prevent machine failure in the first place. This is why we expect to see more vehicles fitted with telematics, such as JCB’s LiveLink. This allows sites to be proactive in maximising uptime through preventative maintenance and better asset utilisation management, resulting in continued smooth operation of a facility.

Big Data

Telematics also feeds site management with the ‘big data’ that can help to optimise operations. Of the system used at Stanton, Mick Clifton says: “A Loadall may be loading lorries and moving waste around.

“We can see clearly what work it’s doing and what work it has actually done. We can monitor which machines are doing the most hours and working the hardest and we can rotate the machines on to an easier job and let the new machines get the harder work. LiveLink also tells us when a machine is due for maintenance and will flag up any issues a machine may have.”

While safety and productiveness can be designed into machines, the driver remains a key contributor to these vital objectives. With that in mind, JCB has been firmly engaged with key waste management operators in driving better levels of operator training in the sector, in a bid to improve operator performance levels, in line with construction and agriculture, via the use of training aids and various other initiatives.

JCB will build on its on-going commitment to the sector in 2018, listening closer than ever to our customers. The 37 strong Wastemaster range already includes many models that are popular with customers such as the 5CX Wastemaster, JS160W, JS370, JS20MH, 437 Wheel Loader, the 560-80 Wastemaster Telescopic Handler and the versatile and productive Teletruk. Introduced last year as a digging, lifting, loading and tool-carrying machine for waste, recycling and municipal operations, we believe that the JCB Hydradig is set to shake up the 10 tonne market in 2018. JCB’s Wastemaster range will continue to expand with innovative alternatives to the norm, which will meet the demands of this ever changing and industry.www.jcb.com